Paper IV

Morale and Productivity

Morale and Productivity of an Employee are higly interdependent. Morale is the most important Psychological state of mind of a person which is expressed as selfconfidence, loyalty toward an organization and/or enthusiasm. Morale of an employee determines the behavior either positively or negatively in an organization. Morale is directly related to employee motivation level and … Read more

The Election Commission of India

The Election Commission of India is an autonomous, quasi-judiciary constitutional body of India.It was established on 25 January 1950 under Article 324 of the Constitution of India. Originally the commission had only a Chief Election Commissioner. The commission presently consists of a Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners, appointed by the president. The President … Read more

Preamble of the Indian Constitution (Secular, Democratic and Socialist-Philosophy behind It)

The Constitution of India begins with a Preamble which describes the nature of the Indian State and the objectives it is committed to secure. K.M. Munshi describes the Preamble as the political horoscope of the constitution. Thakur Dass Bhargawa says Preamble is the most precious part and the soul of the constitution. The Preamble reads: … Read more

Lokayukta

Lokayukta investigates cases of corruption, where substantiated, recommend action. He is a great check on corruption, brings about transparency in the system, makes administrative machinery citizen friendly. His functions largely depend upon jurisdiction vested in him and facilities provided for taking cognizance of citizens’ grievances promptly, dexterously and expeditiously through simple, informal mechanism devoid of … Read more

Citizen’s Charter

Citizen’s Charter is a document which represents a systematic effort to focus on the commitment of the Organisation towards its Citizens in respects of Standard of Services, Information, Choice and Consultation, Non-discrimination and Accessibility, Grievance Redress, Courtesy and Value for Money. The main objective of the exercise to issue the Citizen’s Charter of an organisation … Read more

Good Governance

The “key word” to be used in this is the “Good Governance” in the various phases of the service definition, development, refining and monitoring, and the whole concept of Good Governance services is based on “putting the citizen (user) at the centre of innovative services” starting from enabling of a specific procedure: citizens shall be … Read more

Powers and functions of The Vice President

Vice-President performs a dual role : (1) as Vice-President (2) as the Chairman of Rajya Sabha. The Vice-President is the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha which means that whosoever is the Vice-President, he/she presides over the Rajya Sabha and performs normal duties of a presiding officer. These include maintenance of order in the House, allowing … Read more

Paper IV- INDIAN CONSTITUTION & POLITY, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & GOOD GOVERNANCE

Section (A) – Indian Constitution and Polity (I) Preamble of the Indian Constitution (Secular, Democratic and Socialist-Philosophy behind It) (II) Salient features of the Indian Constitution. ; Basic structure of the Indian Constitution.Concept of Public Interest Litigation (III)Fundamental Rights & Duties (IV) Directive Principles of the State Policy (V) Union Government : (a) Union Executive … Read more

Recruitment of Civil Service

Civil service refers to the body of government officials who are employed in civil occupations that are neither political nor judicial. The concept of civil service was prevalent in India from ancient times. The Mauryan administration employed civil servants in the name of adhyakshas and rajukas. The examination for civil servants in those days too … Read more

The Panchayats functions and responsibilities with special reference to 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments

The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts, 1992, which gave Constitutional status to panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) and urban local bodies (ULBs) respectively, in both letter and spirit in order to bring about greater decentralisation and increase the involvement of the community in planning and implementing schemes and, thus, increase accountability. The Amendments left important … Read more

Fundamental Rights & Duties

The Indian constitution originally provided 7 categories of fundamental rights. But one fundamental right, that to property was removed from the list of fundamental rights by 44th amendment. Right to property now is an ordinary legal right. Thus there are now 6 categories of fundamental rights. These are:  (1) Right to equality (Arts. 14-18). In … Read more

Subordinate Judiciary

Articles 233 to 237 in Part VI of the Constitution make the following provisions to regulate the organization of subordinate courts and to ensure their independence from the executive . Articles 233 to 237 in Part VI of the Constitution make the following provisions to regulate the organization of subordinate courts and to ensure their … Read more

State Legislature : Organization, Powers and functions, with special reference to Jharkhand

Articles 168 to 212 in Part VI of the Constitution deal with the organisation, composition, duration, officers, procedures, privileges, powers and so on of the state legislature.In most of the States, the Legislature consists of the Governor and the Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha). This means that these State have unicameral Legislature. In a Six States( … Read more

Human Rights

Human Rights are commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights “to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being,” and which are “inherent in all human beings” regardless of their nation, location, language, religion, ethnic origin or any other status. The history of human rights can be traced to past documents, … Read more

Parliamentary Committees

The functions of Parliament are not only varied in nature, but considerable in volume. The time at its disposal is limited. It cannot make very detailed scrutiny of all legislative and other matters that come up before it. A good deal of Parliamentary business is, therefore, transacted in the committees.These are committees, with MPs as … Read more

Finance Commission

Under the Constitution the financial resources of the State are very limited though they have to do many works of social uplift under directive principles. In order to cope with their ever-expanding needs, the Central Government makes grants-in-aid to the States. Grant- in-aid to States , through it Central Government exercises a strict control over … Read more

High Court: Organization, Powers and functions

The India High Courts Act 1861 was enacted to create High Courts for various provinces and abolished Supreme Courts at Calcutta, Madras and Bombay and also the Sadar Adalats in Presidency towns. These High Courts had the distinction of being the highest Courts for all cases till the creation of Federal Court of India, which … Read more

Public Administration and management: Meaning, nature and significance

The English word  administer‘ is derived from a combination of two Latin words and ?ministrate‘ meaning ?to serve or manage‘. Literally, the term means management the affairs of public or private. Administration refers to mobilisation of resources – human and material- to achieve pre-set of objectives. Administration is thus an activity undertaken in pursuit of … Read more

Emergency Provisions of the Constitution

An emergency is a situation demanding immediate action.The emergency provisions under Indian constitution can be traced back to the British rule in India, when by Act of parliament crown established its sovereignty over company’s territories in India in 1861 . The Governor General under the provisions exercised wide powers both legislative and executive. He was … Read more

Salient features of the Indian Constitution.

Lengthiest written Constitution: Originally our constitution contained 395 articles divided in 22 parts and 8 schedules. Constitution has been amended 98 times. Currently there are 25 Parts, 12 Schedules, and 448 Articles. These figures show our constitution as the most comprehensive constitution in the world. (British have no written constitution and Constitution of USA had … Read more

Principles of Natural justice & Rule of Law

  Rule of Law may be defined as a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards. It requires, as well, measures … Read more

Union Administration : Central Secretariat,Cabinet Secretariat, Prime Minister’s Office

The Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for the Union administration of the Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 and the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules 1961, facilitating smooth transaction of business in Ministries/ Departments of the Government by ensuring adherence to these rules. The Secretariat assists in decision-making in Government by ensuring … Read more

Right to Education Act

Education is the most powerful tool which can shape the destiny of an individual as well as the whole nation. It is also the key to gender equality. Also it is not only the individual who gets empowered, but the community as a whole and society at large. It is in recognition of these aspects … Read more

Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers

The executive powers of the President are exercised by the Council of Ministers. The Constitution provides that “there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President in the excercise of his functions”. Here the word “shall” indicates that the President cannot function without the … Read more

Functioning under a Coalition Government

Coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several parties cooperate. Coalition governments are usually formed as no party can individually achieve a majority in the parliament. However, a coalition government may also be created in a time of national difficulty or crisis. If a coalition collapses, a confidence vote is held … Read more

Directive Principles Of State Policy

An important feature of the constitution is the Directive Principles of State Policy. Although the Directive Principles are asserted to be “fundamental in the governance of the country,” they are not legally enforceable. Instead, they are guidelines for creating a social order characterized by social, economic, and political justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity as enunciated … Read more

Political Parties and Pressure Groups.

Political Parties and Elections Political parties are an established part of modern mass democracy, and the conduct of elections in India is largely dependent on the behaviour of political parties. Although many candidates for Indian elections are independent, the winning candidates for Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections usually stand as members of political parties, … Read more

Leadership and its qualities

Leadership is the process, which influences the people and inspires them to willingly accomplish the organisational objectives. The main purpose of managerial leadership isto gets willing cooperation of the workgroup to achieve the goals. Leadership is the ability to persuade and motivate others to work in desired way for achieving the goals. Thus, a person … Read more

District Administration : Origin and development of the office of the District Magistrate and Collector; Changing Role Collector; Impact of the separation of Judiciary on District Administration

District has been the basic unit of administration in India since ancient times. In India, we have a democratic welfare state which involves wide scope of activities for the development of the people and the nation as a whole. District administration, is that part of public administration which functions in the territorial limits of the … Read more

The State Public Service Commission

The Jharkhand Public Service Commission was Constituted under the provisions of the Article 315 of the Constitution of India by the Governor of Jharkhand vide Notification . Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) was established with the aim of making a commission fully responsible for making the recruitment for the government posts in the state. The … Read more

Parliament’s control over Executive;

Parliament is the supreme law making body of the nation.The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha is empowered to pass a vote of censure against the ministry. Whenever such a motion is passed, the ministry has to resign. There are several means of Parliament’s control over Executive such … Read more

Right to information act

Right to information is a fundamental right of any citizen of India to know what is happening with the government. Every individual has the freedom to seek any government related information through this RTI act 2005. The Right to Information Act (2005) is one of the key legislation enacted by the Parliament which guarantees the … Read more

Law making process

Parliament is a supreme law making body of the nation. Any proposed law is introduced in the Parliament as a bill. After being passed by the Parliament and getting the President’s assent it becomes a law. There are two kinds of bills:-(i) ordinary bill and (ii) money bill. Every member of the Parliament has a … Read more

Basic structure of the Indian Constitution

The basic structure doctrine is an Indian judicial principle that the Constitution of India has certain basic features that cannot be altered or destroyed through amendments by the parliament. Key among these “basic features”, are the fundamental rights granted to individuals by the constitution. The doctrine thus forms the basis of a limited power of the Indian … Read more

Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG)

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) promotes accountability, transparency and good governance through high quality auditing and accounting.The Comptroller and auditor general (CAG) of India is empower to audit all expenses from the combine Fund of the union or state governments, whether incurred within India or outside. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) … Read more

Union Administration : Central Secretariat,Cabinet Secretariat, Prime Minister’s Office

Cabinet Secretariat The Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for the administration of the Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 and the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules 1961, facilitating smooth transaction of business in Ministries/ Departments of the Government by ensuring adherence to these rules. The Secretariat assists in decision-making in Government by … Read more

Public and Private Administration

The public and Private administration:-Public administration is different from private administration in three important aspects, the first is the political character, secondly the breadth of scope, impact and consideration and public accountability. These differences seem very fundamental and very valid in the Iight of our own exploration of the subject in previous articles. Following principles … Read more

State Administration : State Secretariat, Chief Secretary. Chief Minister’s Office.

The state secretarial consists of departments of state government which are headed politically by the ministers and administratively by the secretaries. The chief secretary Is the head of the entire state secretariat while a secretary is a head of one or two departments. Functions of State Secretariat: ? the secretariat of the state determines the … Read more

National Human Rights Commission

Human Rights Commission Establishment of Human Right Commission The National Human Rights Commission is a statutory (and not a constitutional) body. It was established in 1993 under a legislation enacted by the Parliament, namely, the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. This Act was amended in 2006. The commission is the watchdog of human rights … Read more

Privileges and immunities of Parliament and its Members

Parliamentary privilege  is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties. The Presiding Officer i.e. Speaker in case of Lok Sabha and Chairman in case of Rajya Sabha, is the custodian … Read more

Judicial Review

The Judiciary plays a very important role as a protector of the constitutional values that the founding fathers have given us. They try to undo the harm that is being done by the legislature and the executive and also they try to provide every citizen what has been promised by the Constitution under the Directive … Read more